Match Report : 16/02/2013

Michael Chopra's early second-half strike was enough see off Blackpool, despite The Seasiders having the majority of the possession, in a game of very few chances at Portman Road.

Matt Derbyshire was handed his first start for The Seasiders, spearheading the attack with Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Matt Phillips playing either side of the loanee.

The forward set out his intentions early on by continually looking for balls to be played in behind the Ipswich back-line and stretch the defence.

After a strong opening from Pool, Matt Gilks was called into action when Daryl Murphy struck a volley hard into the ground, which the keeper did well to react to and turn away to safety.

David McGoldrick flashed an effort wide after wrong-footing Craig Cathcart but chances were few and far between as the game became a scrappy affair for a large part of the first period.

Shortly before the half-hour mark some patient build-up from The Seasiders resulted in Tiago Gomes rifling a shot against the post after a lovely through-ball from Chris Basham.

The Portuguese midfielder shaped to fire his effort across goal but instead beat the keeper at his near post only to hit the outside of the post.

The half looked to be petering out with both sides cancelling each other out, but with two minutes to go Alex Baptiste was played in down the right and his cross-come-shot took a slight deflection and went narrowly wide of the far post.

Blackpool finished the half firmly on the front foot but were unable to make the breakthrough and the sides went in level at the break.

HALF-TIME: IPSWICH TOWN 0-0 BLACKPOOL

The Seasiders looked to settle well after the restart but a long ball over the top found Michael Chopra who ran onto it before striking a shot hard and low across Gilks, giving the keeper no chance.

GOAL: IPSWICH 1-0 Blackpool

Reece Wabara came on for his first appearance just before the opening goal and he offered some natural width down the right as he looked to overlap and get crosses into the box.

Blackpool maintained good possession after going behind but failed to test Stephen Henderson in the Ipswich goal with any efforts of note.

The introduction of Tom Ince and Nathan Delfouneso gave The Seasiders a pacy looking front-line but Mick McCarthy's side continued to frustrate their opposition by restricting their goal scoring opportunities.

Baptiste almost got Pool back on level terms, but his bullet header from Phillips' corner was cleared off the line and Ipswich scrambled the ball away.

The Seasiders continued to probe but Ipswich defended their area well and dealt with any danger to see out the game.